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Thomas Tuchel is fighting to save Chelsea’s season at Wembley but his job security cannot be in doubt


THOMAS TUCHEL has the task of saving Chelsea’s season on Sunday but his job is as safe as houses.

The last chance of a trophy this year rests on an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.

Stamford Bridge chief Thomas Tuchel has transformed the team with his ‘honesty, commitment and instinctive intelligence’Credit: Getty

Tuesday’s gallant exit from the Champions League at Real Madrid counts for nothing now the dust has settled on a brilliant but ultimately failed performance.

The European Cup is on its way back to UEFA HQ, Chelsea are third in the Premier League and lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool just six weeks ago.

In normal circumstances, Chelsea’s manager would be under immense pressure to deliver silverware or face the sack.

Regardless of charisma, character or previous success, the demands under outgoing owner Roman Abramovich were relentless.

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Victorious Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti can vouch for that having been axed less than a year after winning The Double.

Tuchel is undoubtedly the best thing that has happened to Chelsea for years.

But if Abramovich were still in full control, awkward questions would be being asked ahead of kick-off for what has become a vital match.

The fact that Stamford Bridge is a power vacuum right now is a huge relief for Tuchel.

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With no outright owner of the club while Russian Abramovich ducks from country to country watching his financial empire crumble, there is nobody around to order the cull.

The once busy beheading room at Stamford Bridge is eerily quiet and Tuchel is probably in the safest job in English football.

Four hopeful consortiums have submitted their final offers to buy the now former European champions and await the outcome this week.

Of course it would be absurd, a massive mistake to sack Tuchel or even allow negative PR to fester around the man who has steered Chelsea through the trickiest few weeks since its formation 117 years ago.

The four groups hoping to gain control of one of the most powerful clubs in European football are also gushing positivity about grand plans for the future and saying all the right things to the fans.

Tuchel is by far the best man to lead Chelsea into a new era under fresh ownership.

Tuchel’s honesty, commitment and instinctive intelligence have transformed Chelsea since he took over in January last year. But so did his predecessor Frank Lampard’s.

Lampard, Chelsea’s greatest ever goalscorer, also brought Mason Mount and Reece James into the first team via the academy and they are now key players for club and country.

It was Lampard who got Chelsea into the knockout stages of last season’s Champions League from where Tuchel picked up and went onto win it.

After which the German spent £97 million on Romelu Lukaku in the summer for a return so far of 12 goals – three of those against lower league opponents in The FA Cup.

Manchester City and Liverpool are out of sight in the Premier League.

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Chelsea boss Tuchel tells Lukaku he has to be like Werner to get back into team

Chelsea are third, 12 points off the top with seven games to go and look at least two years off making a renewed bid for the title.

That’s a trophy they haven’t won since 2017 – four years and three managers ago.

Tuchel is by far the best man to lead Chelsea forward into a new era under fresh ownership when the turbulence of recent weeks finally subsides.


Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk


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